The following column is the opinion and analysis of the writer:
History has a funny way of repeating itself. As the Democrats gear up for their massively scaled-down convention, a lingering fissure continues to widen — threatening an all-out schism between the party loyalists, and the vocal, insurgent left-wing. Matters have been made only worse by the DNC’s platform committee adopting a left-of-center blueprint.
While the drama unfolds and former Vice President Joe Biden makes his case to the American people — in the hopes of denying President Trump a second term — Arizona emerges larger than ever, revealing itself as a crucial tipping-point state. Some pundits and politicos have crowned Arizona the decisive state.
In a race that will (as some have predicted) come down to the margins, Joe Biden and the Democrats cannot afford an all-out war between the party’s two iron-willed and inflexible camps. Rather than repeat the mistakes of 2016 — which has left lingering and bitter wounds — the onus for reconciliation falls on the feisty and unapologetic progressive beau ideal, Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Should his most ardent die-hards sit out this election (or worse, vote for a third-party no-hoper) as they did in 2016, President Trump will be repeating, “I do solemnly swear” come Jan. 20, 2021.
To avoid this hellacious fait accompli, Bernie Sanders needs a Barry Goldwater moment.
In July 1960, the Republican Party veered on the course of total implosion. As delegates and party activists across the nation flooded the now-shuttered International Amphitheater for the dramatic and undetermined convention, Barry Goldwater, Arizona’s junior and illustrious senator, remained high on everybody’s mind.
Like Bernie Sanders, Barry Goldwater brought to his party a new coterie of ragtag ideologues who grew dissatisfied with the direction of their party. Many of these new adherents were starry-eyed college students yearning for change. No longer kowtowing to the status quo, Goldwater’s band of crusaders launched an all-out campaign on the convention floor to make the Arizona senator the Republican presidential nominee (or at the very least, vice president) over shoo-in Richard Nixon and dark-horse New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller. Conservatives were also incensed over the liberalized platform.
Seeing the chaos on the floor and worried about intraparty fighting spilling out into November, an equally angry Goldwater had two options: dig his heels in and play to his base, or unite the party.
Luckily for Republicans, Goldwater chose the latter.
Releasing his delegates to the presumptive nominee, Goldwater unequivocally threw his support behind Richard Nixon and the Republican Party platform, saying, “We don’t gain anything when you (conservatives) get mad at a candidate because you don’t agree with his every philosophy. We don’t gain anything when you disagree with the platform and then do not go out and work and vote for your party.”
The principled conservative, the loyal and dutiful anti-establishmentarian, demanded his followers fall in line with the same menacing machine that deceived them year after year.
But Goldwater was steadfast. “This country is too important for anyone’s feelings. This country, in its majesty, is too great for any man, conservative or liberal, to stay home and not work just because he doesn’t agree. Let’s grow up, conservatives. If we want to take this party back, and I think we can someday, let’s get to work,” Goldwater finished, his voice stern and eyes narrowed.
If Democrats hope to avoid a loss this November, Bernie Sanders needs to have his Goldwater moment. He needs to bring his devotees into the big tent, and unequivocally make the case for a Biden presidency. Once 2020 brings about the defeat of Trumpism, the Sanders camp can, in the words of the late Arizona senator, “get to work.”
